I hope you and your families are safe and well, and secluded like I have been. As a sign of the times, my family came together virtually to celebrate our granddaughter’s 7th birthday. We didn’t get any cake, but we’re doing our part to keep this virus from spreading and not contribute to the dangerous workload of our heroic healthcare workers.

Looking forward to the summer, not even our most knowledgeable health experts can predict with certainty when the threat of COVID-19 will subside. But we do know it will be with us for some time and so will the need for social distancing. That is why my leadership team and I have made the decision to continue delivering remote instruction for all four summer sessions, which begin June 1, and the May mini-session.

Even with classes online, we still have about 1,600 students living in on-campus housing and dedicated staff who are preparing food, cleaning and sanitizing our buildings for those who must access their office or lab, and police and security officers on their regular patrols. Even though we are enforcing social distancing and following all guidance from health officials, it is not lost on me the anxiety that is felt by those people whose presence at the workplace is essential to support delivery of education. I truly appreciate you all.

Finally, I want to recognize our faculty who have adjusted to holding class online and our researchers who are testing potential drugs to fight COVID-19 and applying technology to protect health care workers on the frontlines. Where we can, the University of Houston is also providing much-needed resources to people on the frontline in the greater Houston area.

It’s a reminder that treating patients and stopping the spread of COVID-19 indeed takes all of us. Together we will get through this.